


Onwards and Upwards

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Coda, Cuddling and Snuggling, Feelings, Fluff, Introspection, M/M, S05E06, Sleepy Cuddles, run on sentences and too many commas, two disaster boys doing their best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:03:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29696832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: The thing is, that even after dating Patrick for 645 days, David still doesn’t know how relationships work. A coda to Rock On.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 40
Kudos: 259





	Onwards and Upwards

**Author's Note:**

> I’m not sure why yesterday was the day that I needed to write a coda to Rock On, but here we are.

The thing is—and David will admit this later—the thing is, that even after 645 days of dating Patrick, of being in a relationship—the _thing_ is, that David still doesn’t know how relationships work. Not really. Waking up next to Patrick every day brings a new milestone, a new marker that he’s never achieved before. And so, it’s probably only natural that at some point, he’s going to mess it up. The only surprise is that he hasn’t messed it up permanently, before now.

It had started as a joke, of course, the way these things often do, the way they often did in his old life, setting Patrick up on a date, telling him to run free, to spread his gay wings. And then Alexis had gotten in his head and now Patrick is standing on his doorstep looking like David has murdered his puppy and suddenly it isn’t very funny anymore. And maybe, David realizes, this is how relationships work. 

It’s not until later, when he’s tucked under the covers, with his head on Patrick’s shoulder, after they’d driven in the opposite direction to drop Alexis off at Ted’s, Patrick’s hand hot and heavy on his thigh and after Patrick had taken him apart, stopping to murmur “I don’t need anyone else”, leaving David taut and exposed before pushing him over the edge, it’s after all of that that David dares to utter the words into the darkness. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Seems to me you had a pretty good idea of what you were doing a few minutes ago, David.”

David pinches his boyfriend’s side in retaliation, hiding a smile against Patrick’s shoulder, because Patrick is a troll and he’s the biggest troll at these moments when he knows David is insecure about something. If it wasn’t so instantly soothing, David would hate it, but deep down in his core, in the secret place where the darkness and fear lives, he knows Patrick will never leave him when he’s teasing him. It’s when Patrick gets serious that he worries.

“I just mean—this. Being in a relationship. I don’t know how that works, and I’m sorry if I nearly messed it up for us today.” There’s a long pause, a pause that lingers long enough that the tendrils of something black and icky start to work their way out of the box he keeps them in and regret builds in the back of his throat. 

“Does anyone?” Patrick’s voice is dry and a little sad and he shifts so that he can run his fingers through David’s hair without getting a cramp in his arm because he knows how much David needs to be touched right now.

“You do?” He doesn’t mean it to be a question, but it is. It is a question, because if Patrick doesn’t know how to do this, Patrick who spent fifteen years in a relationship and came out the other side with a best friend instead of an enemy, if Patrick doesn’t know how to do this, then what chance does David have when his longest ever relationship before Patrick lasted three months, two weeks and five days?

“What, because of Rachel?” David nods against Patrick’s chest, grateful his boyfriend can’t see him in the dim light, knowing that his eyes are doing something inappropriate. “David, if I’d known how to make relationships work, I wouldn’t have stayed with Rachel so long or broken up with her so often.”

“Okay, but you know how to do birthdays and anniversaries and stuff. And you probably never set Rachel up with some random guy who walked into your business.”

Patrick huffs a laugh, his chest vibrating beneath David’s cheek. “I’m hoping that whatever we’re doing here is about more than anniversary gifts and accidental hook-ups.”

It’s David’s turn to let the silence build because he still doesn’t know, he doesn’t know what this thing is, the shape of it has grown so large that he can’t see the edges of it any more, the way it wraps around them both like a soft, comforting blanket. It’s too big, so instead he focuses on something small. “I like the anniversary gifts.”

“I know you do.” Patrick’s laugh is deeper this time, and his fingers pull at David’s hair. “David, there aren’t any rules except what we agree on. No one else gets a say here.”

“Hmm.” He hums against Patrick’s shoulder as the thread inside him that’s been tight and hot since that morning when he’d handed Ken a pen and a piece of paper loosens and unravels. If he’s learned nothing else since the moment Patrick walked into his store—their store—and handed David an overly corporate picture frame, it’s that he and Patrick are at their best when they figure things out together. “I can work with that.” His fingers tease at the edge of Patrick’s t-shirt. “Just one question, though. Do the rules include anything about your preference for mid-range denim? Or the mountaineering shoes? Because I have some thoughts.”

The tug on his hair is sharper this time and even without seeing his face he can tell Patrick is smiling. “No. But there is definitely a rule about squared-off shoes.”


End file.
